Useful Apps for the iPad
Technology has evolved quite a bit over the years bringing with it several tools that have enhanced academic learning and organization. Applications or apps for short, are one such tool. There are several thousands of apps that are available for the iPad, so many that in fact, there's probably an app for just about anything you need. We have two iPads available for check out from FDL, one for the Arts and one for the Sciences. Since there are so many apps, more than we could put on a single iPad, we have composed a list of apps that we believe could be very useful:
Research/Reference
Dictionary!: Allows you to easily look up definitions and synonyms from over 200,000 words.
Dropbox: It's not easy to upload/download documents onto an iPad, but Dropbox really helps with 2 GB of storage.
Instapaper: Allows you to download/save webpages to view offline when you have time.
iSSRN: Lets you view over 260,000 research papers from Social Science Research Network.
Papers: Enables you to view and store articles from more than 8 different search engines.
TAO: Is a language text translator tool powered by Google's online translator engine with over 30 different languages to choose from.
TED: An application that streams free lectures from a wide range of scholarly experts.
WorldCat Mobile: Lets you search for library materials through WorldCat libraries and locate the nearest WorldCat library.
Media Creation/Viewing
Adobe Ideas: An electronic sketchbook that allows you to create, save, and send: sketches, vector drawings, etc.
Google Docs: The essential iPad app, Google Docs lets you edit and create spreadsheets and documents. You can also access Google Doc forms and other Google features.
iMovie: Make movies right from your iPad using clips, pictures, and music.
Numbers: A spreadsheet app that creates charts and graphs.
Keynote: A presentation app that allows you to make slideshows much like Microsoft Powerpoint.
Pages: A word app that allows you to integrate pictures with text flawlessly to make flyers, letters, posters, invitations, etc.
Photoshop Express for iPad: Remarkably good and fast for simple image editing and sharing.
Webex: You can meet virtually using Webex on your iPad.
Organization/Note Taking
BBLearn Mobile App: Many BlackBoard 9.1 capabilities can be done over a phone or tablet.
Bloom's Taxonomy: A way for people to organize their iPad apps using the ideas from Bloom's Taxonomy, the classification system for learning objectives.
Dragon Dictation: A voice recognition app that takes what you say and types it out to be sent as an e-mail, social network update, etc. As long as you don't speak too quickly, this works quite well.
Evernote: "Remember everything" - this is a quick way to gather images, notes, audio, etc. and best of all, it syncs to your computer.
GoodReader: Allows you to view large documents such as pdf, txt, doc, and xls quickly as well as take notes on them.
Google: Voice search, maps, Earth, etc.
iThoughts: A mind mapping tool used to help formulate and organize ideas.
myHomework: Keep yourself organized by keeping track of and prioritizing classes, assignments, and projects.
Outliner: Lets you easily create and share outlines for projects, notes, to-do list, etc.
Penultimate: Is a free hand note taking app that uses touch screen to take notes. It also organizes your notes into separate notebooks for maximum organization.
Qrafter: QR code reader
Quickoffice: Read, display, edit office docs (including Google Docs.)
SoundNote: Allows you to draw and take notes while recording audio. You can also select a section of your notes and the audio will play at the moment you took that note.
Sundry Notes: A notetaking app that lets you write/draw notes, create tables, import images into your notes, do collaborative editing with someone on the same network, record audio, and password protect your notes al for free.
Field Apps
Leafsnap: Is an app that allows you to identify what type of tree you are looking at by taking a picture of its leaf.
Star Walk: A constellation app that allows you to look up what something is by viewing it through your iPad.
Classroom Tools
eClicker Host: Is a polling app that educators can use for quick feedback on questions they ask. It is a realatively inexpensive polling system compared to other polling devices.
eClicker: eClicker is a polling remote that is used with eClicker Host. Students can connect with any internet-enabled device to participate in the poll.
PI83 Graphing Calculator: A graphing calculator that carries many of same functions as Texas Instruments TI83 graphing calculator for just 99¢.
The Chemical Touch Lite: Displays the periodic table of elements as well as the basic information on each element such as mass, densities, and melting/boiling point.
Quick How-tos
How to alphabetize your apps without dragging and dropping each one individually
Linking your iPad wirelessly to a projector or other display